Views on Immigration

Use this forum to discuss the March 2018 Book of the Month, "Final Notice" by Van Fleisher.
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kandscreeley
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Views on Immigration

Post by kandscreeley »

What do you think about the views about immigration espoused in Final Notice? Do you agree with the characters in the book regarding continuing to allow immigration especially as it relates to Muslims? Why or why not?
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Post by sepicatt »

Ok, loaded topic here. But I will say my view is to currently not allow immigration right now. We have enough children and people who are homeless and need assistance that already live here (regardless of whether legal or illegal- they are here). Take care of them first. For example, there were currently 25,000 homeless children in NYC right before winter approached. Put your resources into taking care of them. Once you solve that problem then re-evaluate immigration. It's like going to help and spend your money on the neighborhood when your own house and family are falling apart but you aren't taking care of it.
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Post by Mary Garrison »

I agree that we need to deal with our home people first. I would welcome anyone as long as they do it legally, so they have to be held to the same standards we are by paying taxes.
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Post by rylahn »

sepicatt wrote: 03 Mar 2018, 06:57 Ok, loaded topic here. But I will say my view is to currently not allow immigration right now. We have enough children and people who are homeless and need assistance that already live here (regardless of whether legal or illegal- they are here). Take care of them first. For example, there were currently 25,000 homeless children in NYC right before winter approached. Put your resources into taking care of them. Once you solve that problem then re-evaluate immigration. It's like going to help and spend your money on the neighborhood when your own house and family are falling apart but you aren't taking care of it.
I don't believe that we should, in any given circumstance, completely block immigration just because we have inner issues that have always existed (such as homelessness) our country. We should concentrate our resources in helping problems running rampant now, yes, but that doesn't mean we should restrict immigration flow because of it.
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Post by CheyenneR »

I think immigration is fine but two things need to happen first. The first thing is any country should take care to help their own people first, you can't be a land of opportunities and yet have so many people that still need housing and food in your own country. Secondly, I think any immigration needs to be done legally, to immigrate anywhere "off the books" really causes problems later down the road not only for the person/people immigrating but for the country as a whole.
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Post by stedape »

Mjgarrison wrote: 03 Mar 2018, 08:31 I agree that we need to deal with our home people first. I would welcome anyone as long as they do it legally, so they have to be held to the same standards we are by paying taxes.
I totally agree. Everyone should be given a chance without being stereotyped. Legal immigration should be allowed for muslims everywhere. They are humans like everyone else, and they have basic human rights as well.
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Post by khusnick »

Immigration is honestly the least of our problems. It's pushed to seem super important, but most people have not and never will be harmed or affected by an immigrant in a negative way.

The homeless issue expressed above is entirely separate. We have a ridiculous amount of empty houses and apartments across the country. They're sitting, falling apart, with no one living inside them. There will probably never be anyone living inside them again. The affordability of housing and assistance programs in getting homeless people back into actual homes are something we need to work on, yes, but that has no relation to immigration. There's no reason we can't do both.
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Post by DancingLady »

I think the biggest real issue with immigration (not considering mere opinions here) is our current resources and needs. I understand why some people oppose immigrants of a certain background, but there is no such thing as risk free immigration no matter what, and I think proper background checks should be adequate to deal with those concerns. We do certainly have limited resources, as does every other nation, so we can't reasonably let everyone in who wants to come in expect to be able to meet their needs in the settling process. My opinion is that we should give priority to those whose lives are in danger in their home country. Rasha's story illustrates an example of why some people are trying so hard to immigrate, they literally don't expect to survive long in their current situation do to war. We also have people fleeing drug wars in Central America who are in the same position, literally not expecting to be able to stay alive unless they can escape. I personally feel we should put the resources we have toward helping those people who are fleeing for their lives rather than those who just want more opportunities unless we have enough to adequately accommodate both.
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Post by Spirit Wandering »

khusnick wrote: 03 Mar 2018, 17:06 We have a ridiculous amount of empty houses and apartments across the country. They're sitting, falling apart, with no one living inside them. The affordability of housing and assistance programs in getting homeless people back into actual homes are something we need to work on, yes, but that has no relation to immigration. There's no reason we can't do both.
Good point about renovating existing housing stock to accommodate the homeless-I hadn't thought about that before. Habitat for Humanity has been very successful and would seem like a model that could be built upon.
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Post by MrsCatInTheHat »

If we continue to allow Canadians and people from Western Europe to immigrate here, then we need to allow people from Syria, Iraq, Mexico, etc to immigrate here. Actually, less of Canada and Western Europe, as they aren't typically seeking a safer home.
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Post by mamalui »

From my understanding, immigrants are the ones that do the jobs that no one wants to do. But everything in moderation and doing background checks for criminal activities can go a long way to ensure peace.
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Post by sepicatt »

"The homeless issue expressed above is entirely separate. We have a ridiculous amount of empty houses and apartments across the country. They're sitting, falling apart, with no one living inside them. There will probably never be anyone living inside them again."

there are people still from Hurricane Sandy, from the floods in West Virginia, and other disasters that have occurred over 5 yrs ago who still are homeless. Who still have not had their claims settled. If the government can't take care of people in their own country currently then they need to seriously reconsider their current policies REGARDLESS of country/race/religious affiliation/etc.
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Post by mingyums »

This is a tough question, and one reason why I think it's hard to answer is because it really depends on the country in question - is the country a first world one? How is its economy? Does it have low-income jobs that immigrants can fill that people within the country don't want to do (for example)? I don't think one's particular faith/nationality/ethnicity comes into it, although there should be background checks and safety checks.
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Post by dphelps1113 »

I, too, agree that we need to focus on our home front first before we decide to dive and tackle deeper issues.
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Post by melissy370 »

khusnick wrote: 03 Mar 2018, 17:06 Immigration is honestly the least of our problems. It's pushed to seem super important, but most people have not and never will be harmed or affected by an immigrant in a negative way.
Unfortunately, there have been people who have been hurt or killed by undocumented immigrants. They are the ones that give immigrants who have come in the right way a bad rap. The immigrants in the book are shining examples on why we can't completely close our borders. What are we to do with the ones who cause trouble? There has got to be laws put in place to protect our citizens.
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